A Stroll Down the Memory Lane
by Read-Them-On
Summary: Jason is a very patient person, but not when it comes to Piper and a life-changing probability. However, as he waits, he takes a trip down the memory lane, where one can stay lost forever. [Prompt fanfic for the forum 'Camp Half-Blood'. Jasper/Jiper Oneshot. Rated T just to be safe. Enjoy!]


**Hello, all!**

 **Jason: FINALLY! I get a story of my own!**

 **Piper: Come again, Sparky?**

 **Jason: Pipes! I meant _our_ story, of course!**

 **Me: We get it, Jason. You just wanna rub it in Percy's face. Now, some important stuff to get out of the way:**

 **1\. This is a prompt (Jason/Piper) story for the Camp Half-Blood forum I'm a member of (check it out!).  
**

 **2\. I do _not_ own the characters, just the plot.**

 **3\. The parts written in italics are (hopefully recognizably) flashbacks.**

 **4\. Word count (without A/N): 1973**

 **Now, just a tiny little thing: Enjoy!**

* * *

 **A Stroll Down the Memory Lane**

Jason grunted and looked up at the ceiling. He swung his feet repeatedly as his fists clenched and unclenched.

He looked at the wall clock, adjusting his glasses a bit, and inhaled deeply when his fingers slipped slightly. He handled the new spectacles _very_ carefully, now that thanks to Leo and Percy, he knew for sure that dropping them from a height greater than half a foot does break the glass.

With his tiresome work as the professor of aerodynamics in one of the most elite institutions in the world, Jason never really got time to review his life.

His friends, who had known him since his teenager days, often teased him about his profession choice (cough – Percy and Leo – cough). Thalia, who had parted away from the Hunters of Artemis on good terms, reasoning that she couldn't possibly stand seeing any of them die before her (Artemis even went ahead and made her growth faster than any other human until she became the same age as she would have been if she hadn't joined the Hunters), had gone all out and attempted to shock him, mumbling something about 'family of nerds' and 'annoying brothers'. But it was his choice, and contrasted nicely with the hustle and bustle of the career his wife had chosen for herself.

He loved teaching but it sure was a tiring job. One day he had been so fatigued that he had gone to sleep on the couch as soon as he had returned to the bungalow just near the outskirts of the large campus. The university did offer them an apartment inside the campus, but seeing as the house was for sale when Jason had joined the institute, he had decided to go for the one which was Piper's choice.

He sighed.

Now that he thought about it, his life till now had been nice.

His lips slowly morphed into a smile as he thought about their recent trip to the Niagara Falls.

* * *

" _Where is he?!"_ _Annabeth yelled frantically in anger and worry._

 _They were all there: Percy, Annabeth, Leo, Calypso, Frank, Hazel, Reyna, Thalia, Piper, Will, (a not-so-reluctant) Nico and Jason himself. After all, it was the last Sunday of the month and the group was on an outing as usual._

 _But – as it often happened – someone in the party had to disappear. Jason often wondered about how had he managed to cope with Annabeth's wrath the last time . . . and the last to the last time . . . and the last to the last to the last . . . and the las- Well, you get it._

 _So, now they were looking for the son of Poseidon amongst the crowd of people taking selfies and photos._

 _Suddenly, there was a loud shout from somewhere above them._

 _Jason looked up._

 _And there he was, standing on top of the ledge, waving madly at them. Jason could even see his huge grin from where he was standing._

" _PERCY!" Annabeth and Thalia yelled at him as loud as they could have managed but it did nothing to stop that stupid kelp-head._

 _He dived._

" _Woohoo!"_

 _Jason's mind went into overdrive. He thought about deflecting the winds to bring Percy back on the land, but it was too late._

 _And the next thing he knew, Percy went down into the water without as much of a ripple and was back to the surface in a moment._

 _He could see Annabeth smack her forehead. But, she also held smirk as if she was actually_ proud _of him, just a bit, even though he was sure that Seaweed Brain was gonna get it afterwards._

 _He contributed wholeheartedly to the wolf whistles and cheers._

 _And from the corner of his eye, he could see Piper mirroring Annabeth's actions._

 _He gulped._

 _He was going to get it too._

* * *

He plopped down on his back on the bed as another memory struck to him, this one concerning a certain daughter of Aphrodite, a pair of prankster brothers and alcohol.

* * *

 _Jason stifled a laugh as Piper drew another weird whatever-that-was on the paper. Her kaleidoscopic eyes glinted with innocence._

" _Guess that!" she giggled and pushed the paper towards Jason._

 _He looked at the drawing. It looked like nothing more than a worm but he figured that she wasn't going for that particular thing._

" _Is it a . . . a rose?"_

" _No!"_

 _Her eyes started pooling with water and she pouted._

" _It was a joke!" Jason frantically tried to make amends but well, the milk was already spilled._

 _He sighed. It was a matter of time before that happened. Many people drive and get into accidents when drunk while many more hook up with someone who's drunk too. But not Piper McLean; nope. Instead, she got childish and drew nonsensical pictures._

 _They had gone to Leo and Calypso's housewarming party where someone (cough – Connor and Travis – cough) had spiked the punch. Fortunately, Jason's body was pretty tolerant to alcohol but that wasn't the case with Piper (or Hazel and Annabeth for that matter)._

 _However, knowing the fact that she wouldn't like her drawing to be called 'nonsensical', Jason decided to give the guesswork another try._

" _I know! It's a dove!"_

 _Her sniffling stopped a tiny bit._

 _And then came the waterworks._

" _You don't understand!" Piper wept as she rubbed her eyes, "You don't understand, Jason! It's me and you! You don't love me!"_

 _Considering the fact that Piper was currently thinking of herself as a child, Jason didn't understand how someone that young could possibly talk about a significant matter such as love. Then he remembered that the woman in front of him was the daughter of the goddess of love and chided himself for possibly having offended Aphrodite (she tended to get peeved at such things easily). But if Piper was really a little five-year-old girl, Jason would have tried to reason with her using chocolates or teddy-bears; and knowing that she wasn't one in reality, he knew she wasn't going to settle for a piece of candy._

 _He decided to take a simpler, but daring, approach._

" _I love you, Pipes. I really do. With all my heart."_

 _She blinked a few times and then her sobs turned into sniffles._

" _Really?" she asked, looking at him with what he figured out were her puppy-dog eyes._

" _Really."_

 _He smiled at her and she giggled._

" _I love you, too!"_

* * *

Jason closed his eyes and his mind replayed another memory revolving around the love of his life. It was of the day that had changed both of their whole lives for better.

* * *

 _"Promise me you won't peek."  
_

 _"On the Styx?"_

 _Jason felt Piper roll her eyes as he slowly removed his hands from her eyes and took in a deep breath. If everything went as he had planned, he was going to be bouncing off the walls for at least a month. If not, well, he has seen worse days.  
_

 _He reviewed his plan in his mind thrice before he moved from his spot to check that everything was there where it was supposed to be._

 _After making sure of everything, he went to Piper, who surprisingly didn't seem to have broken her promise._

 _"Open your eyes."_

 _She did._

 _The sight left her mouth agape and Jason hallelujah-ed internally._

 _They were standing under the beautiful roof of a marble pergola. The pillars were decorated with arrays of flowering climbers including wisterias, star-jasmines, clematises, trumpet vines, hydrangeas and many more even Jason didn't know. He had actually asked Annabeth for a list and she had written each and every decorative climber with its scientific name. And in the very center was a delicious meal placed on round table for two. A soft melody made the atmosphere even more euphoric.  
_

 _Jason looked at Piper. He had told her that they were going for dinner at an extremely fancy and expensive place and she had fortunately fallen for it. In her peach colored cocktail dress and wedges, she looked like a goddess straight from Olympus - heck, she looked even more beautiful than her mother (uh-oh). He himself was dressed in an elegant grey suit and a peach tie (Piper chose it for him)._

 _Her eyes were glistening with tears as she was smiling._

 _"Milady?"_

 _That broke her stupor and she nodded, allowing herself to get guided over to the table. He pulled out a chair for her and after getting her seated, poured down the champagne in their glasses.  
_

 _"Wh-wha?"_

 _Jason chuckled._

 _"You like the surprise?" he asked, taking her left hand in his._

 _"I love it," she replied, still slightly confused, "But you really didn't have to, sweetie."  
_

 _He stroked her hand with her thumb, still standing near her._

 _"I did this 'cause I wanted to. And 'cause I love you. And . . ."_

 _He took in a deep breath as his other hand fiddled with the tiny box in his pocket._

 _"And because I wanted to do this."_

 _He got down on his knee and her free hand flew towards her mouth, gasping with what he hoped was joy._

 _"Piper McLean, you have been one of the best things to have ever happened to me. I still remember the day when I met you on that Wilderness School bus crystal clear. That day changed my life and I hope this one does too. I love you, Piper. And that is why I ask you this: will you marry me?"  
_

 _Jason opened the tiny box and inside was the ring he had bought - a gold band studded with shimmering diamonds which formed a heart. He was scared to look into her eyes, fearing that they may give him a glimpse of the answer which he will not wanna see. Like, at all. His heart was in his mouth, racing with a tremendous speed._

 _"Yes."_

 _His eyes widened._

 _"Really?"_

 _She laughed heartily._

 _"I will, silly. Why won't I?"_

 _His face split into a grin as he slipped the ring on her finger.  
_

 _"I love you, Sparky." she mumbled._

 _And without wasting a second, he marked their new relationship with a kiss._

* * *

Jason involuntarily grinned. Never in a millennium would he have guessed that there was a potential for all of them to come this far.

Percy and Annabeth had been the first to marry (not anything shocking), and then Piper and Jason had been the ones to tie the knot. Frank and Hazel, well, you could never know with those two but Frank had let the boys in on his secret that he was going to propose soon. Leo and Calypso, however, were still just living together because the girl had wanted to take it slow.

He sat up, looked at the door and then at the clock.

Piper was inside the bathroom and taking _forever_ to come out.

Suddenly, the door burst open and Jason only managed to see a blurred visual of a person before he was engulfed in a giant hug.

He buried himself in her embrace and smelled her sweet scent of lavender.

They untangled themselves a moment later.

"Guess what?" she asked and bit her lower lip.

"Are you?"

"Yeah. I'm pregnant!"

Finally; the words he had wanted to hear her say since probably the last six months. He wiped the lone tear of joy that had rolled down her cheek but could feel his own eyes get wet.

There was no further exchange of words as he captured her lips in his for a much welcomed kiss.

Needless to say, they broke apart after quite some time.

* * *

It was night. Midnight, to be precise.

But two young soon-to-be parents lay under the sheets wide awake, too excited to sleep.

"So, what were you doing when I was inside?"

"Hm? Oh, I was taking a stroll down the memory lane."

* * *

 **And done!**

 **Well, how was it?**

 **Please REVIEW/FAVORITE/FOLLOW!**

 **And check out my other stories while you're at it! ;D**


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